


The Eternal Curse

by FullMetalFaries



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Family Reunions, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Manga Spoilers, i just want zeref to be happy, im sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 02:52:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16547432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullMetalFaries/pseuds/FullMetalFaries
Summary: The curse has completely taken hold of Zeref. Consuming the young wizard with a cloud of confusion and complacence. But what happens if his plan is followed through? What happens if the bad guys succeed?-Warning: this contains manga spoilers-





	The Eternal Curse

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So i'm not sure if i want to keep this as a one-shot or turn it into multi-chapter. I guess it depends on your reactions to it!   
> -Manga spoilers-

For as long as Zeref could remember he always wished for something more. At first it was to bring his brother back, then to end his own suffering, and now its to have everything he had ever lost come back to him. The centuries of killing and darkness swarming his heart made a little part of him shrivel up. The more he loved the quicker it would die. At first he questioned god. Questioned the sin he committed to deserve the type of purgatory he was forced to endure. He placed himself in a fog, a blanket his consciousness did not want to wake up from.

Sending people off to their deaths became a game in the grand scheme of things. Every soldier a mere pawn to keep his boredom at bay. Since he became the emperor of this typically peaceful and placid country, his curse has calmed. The shroud only taking the lives of plants and animals when he can predict it coming. The calm serenity right after an attack, making him crave it a little bit more every time. The tranquility bringing the softest shard of peace after a long day of holding back the curses affects. 

He did not feel bad for them. This country could be swallowed up by earth for all he cared. That he was certain of. The few people he ever truly loved died. Either by his hand or because he wasn’t strong enough to protect them. The cold-callous side of him wanted to reverse the world for the sheer joy of knowing it was so fragile to destroy to begin with.

Another, softer side of him wanted to accomplish it just to see his innocent little brother again. To be able to hug people, and feel love once more. To watch the little pink-haired boy grow up and flourish-and live. This Natsu, the one in this world, formed and morphed-created by him. This boy- he wasn’t the little Natsu once loved and cherished. 

He had to keep telling himself that. It had to be true.

Because otherwise- why is this happening to begin with?

The fog would lift sometimes, mostly through recognizing Mavis or Natsu. But their threats and battles only drove him further. Made him reach higher and want it so much more. Because if they loved him wouldn’t they understand? Wouldn’t they get that this-this is the only way? To save everyone again? 

He couldn’t control the darkness that had been swirling his head and his heart, slowly seeping and dying everything it touched black. His onyx eyes shifted and scorched, burned everything it touched.

Why wouldn’t they understand.

“Z-Zeref-” a deep baritone voice stopped him in his tracks. The fear an ice cold claw gripping his heart. The scene in front of him regained focus, the picture becoming clearer. The first thing appearing through the charcoal-like cloud was red. The color red, like a dripping rose- scarlet in the light and disappearing into the swirling cloud. 

The second was a pink of cotton candy, coarse vertical strands making their way into the fog. The voice repeated itself, loud and clear with an imaginable amount of conviction. Like an illusion the mist was suddenly lifted from his gaze. The heavy darkness being driven away by the brightest light. The sun coming to cleanse the malevolence from the world. Warm and bright and beautiful.

The first things he focuses on: the dripping of blood, someone very close to his face, and his right arm feeling an indescribable warmth and wetness. The first clear face hes seen in close to twenty years zoomed into focus. 

It was- Natsu. The older one, the one of this world. His eyes were lit with a fiery determination, the faintest crack of a grin on his face, and his hair a clotted bloody mess. Natsu forces out a wet cough, blood trickling between his teeth while more sprouts out of the gaping hole in his chest.

Wait-

His arm was shoved into Natsus chest, the grotesque sight made his heart practically freeze in place. Natsus smile was genuine, only the faintest hint of a tear in his eyes. “Mavis told me, it’s okay Zeref.” The elder brother pulled his arm back, a visceral reaction at the sight made him want to throw up. But-

He couldn’t move, he couldn’t control his own body. He could hear the words coming out of his mouth, the way his voice curved in a malicious-bloodthirsty tone made the hairs on his neck rise. The way Natsus body was thrown to the ground, his arms cradling Mavis and meticulously draining her magic power. 

He knew the intent- he knew the plan. To erase the world and start it over. 

Mavis was alive, she was fighting him. Her last vain attempt to save the world she knew. It was wrong, he knew how wrong it was to erase this world and attempt it again. There were no guarantees this would work. It could just blow up. Everyone dying and nobody having the opportunities to live their lives again.

The curtain pulled back one last time- he was looking down at Natsu, the boy was close to death. His usually vibrant onyx eyes dulled slightly, his breathing was shallow- every breath looked strained. Fully equipped with the magic power, his body cast the spell to unravel the very fabric of time. 

The moment he expected to be peaceful was instead violent and painful. The agony of every bone and muscle tearing, the section behind his eyes felt like a fire was searing into his head. The black curse was painstakingly extracted from his body. His essence flowing backwards in time.

Before i was placed with the curse-  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Through the darkness, Zeref can hear voices. Hushed and nervous, seeping into his consciousness through the shielding veil. Though this darkness felt- different? It was lighter, but also heavier. The constant pressure he hadn’t realized was there since the curse was placed, was suddenly gone. But a crushing exhaustion kept him from moving. Even waking up consumed too much energy. 

But through the cloud he felt the little touches. The hands on his cheeks, and the voices of brash- competitive men, giggling women. He couldn't help but hope this was his form of heaven. The feeling of contact so foreign, he had a hard time remembering the last time he felt the warmth of someone's grasp. He knew time was passing, or at least thought so-

It was hard deciphering what was real and what was a fantasy.

For the first time Zeref started noticing the more particular things. He felt cloth brushing against him, the sound of rain pattering on a roof, footsteps drumming on the floor a distance away. The heaviness began to fade. Giving way to the soft glow of firelight.

His eyes began to focus, immediately met with a small bowl of glowing coals. The warmth seeping into the blankets around him and keeping him toasty warm. A much warmer mound was wrapped around his side. Is that… a person?

With a confused blink and the shuffling of a few fingers, Zeref tries to remember- anything.

He was just in his bed- right? But if that were the case, then why was someone here with him? Nobody had ever slept in his palace bed…

All his functions returning simultaneously, Zeref pushes himself away from the person cuddling his side. Every instinct screaming to escape. Something was wrong, he could have killed whoever that was!

The bundle squealed at being suddenly thrown, making Zeref completely panic. Shrieking in a pitch he was not used too, Zeref tried to clutch his heart and make it stop pounding against his rib cage. This room was unfamiliar, what the hell was going on.

The pounding of footsteps alerted him to people coming, scooting himself into a corner of the room, the helpless man clutched his head and tried his best to not hyperventilate. 

“Big brother?” 

A voice soft and clear pierced the commotion in the room- making his eyes swivel to the small speaker. A little boy, no older than four years old, gazed up at him like he was the stars and moon all wrapped together. A blinding grin spreading across his face, almost illuminating the dark room with his excitement. 

Two figures burst into the room, with all the panic of a herd of cattle. The woman rushed forward first, the male crouching to retrieve the little plate of embers that was knocked over. Rekindling the flame so light sparked the room once more. 

Nothing prepared him for the flood of emotions that wracked through his body. The woman, with raven colored hair and a sincere smile cradled him first. Her nimble fingers combing through his thick hair, her lips gently pressed to the side of his head. She smelled like sugar and honeysuckle, the tears clinging to her eyes brought out how they were not black- but a very deep brown. The color reminding him of something soft and gentle. 

The male strode forward and picked up the squirming toddler, who had been bouncing this entire time- trying to get noticed. Zeref looked at the elder man then. The fluffy pink tufts bouncing when he tilted his head to the side. A teasing grin etched on his masculine face. The smile was small but genuine- in its own right a ray of sunshine. “Glad to see you’ve woken up, boy.”

The toddler wriggling in the muscular arms demanded to be acknowledged. Zeref finally zoning in on what the boy was trying to say. 

“- promised you would train me right when you woke up. You’re up, so lets go!” The fierce, blazing tenacity of the young boy was something all on his own. Looking up at Zeref with a level of innocence only achievable by being young. Natsus beautiful onyx eyes and fluffy pink hair, coupled with the sound of his voice- the one Zeref remembers. 

This was his baby brother, this was what he worked so hard to achieve. Through his mother's arms, Zeref holds his hands out to Natsu. Just like he remembered, Natsu immediately bounces out of their fathers arms and into Zeref's. He couldn’t hold the floodgates back anymore, holding his precious little brother again was so surreal. This was just a dream, it was just a fantasy. He couldn’t be living it again- he did not deserve this kindness.

But Natsu just hugs him back, the toddler almost understanding how badly Zeref needed the hug. His mother laughed cheerfully and loosened her hold, but still kept her arms around protectively. 

“We didn’t know when you would wake up, dear. Its almost been a week since you last woke up. Are you feeling better?” She placed the back of her hand against his forehead, tears streaming down his face and letting them soak into Natsus hair. The kind gesture only making him sob harder, clutching onto the toddler- begging the universe to not take this dream away from him. To give him just this much, to fix things and make them right. 

His father gently scooped the three of them into a hug, placing them in his lap with his wife leaning against him. “Is everything alright Zeref? Has something happened?”

The memories raced through him- of E.N.D, Mavis, the countless demons he had created, the amount of people he murdered in a past life, August, and the people who helped him attempt to consume the world. The Eternal Curse, killing and ripping everything he loved out of his life. The many battles and tragedies, Acnologia. 

The tears still streaming down his face, Zeref looks back up at his father. A wide grin consumed his usually placid expression, a soft laugh beginning to bubble through him. Even through the tears, a little part of him began to swell. That tendril of hope he thought he lost, has come back. 

“No, nothing at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm a new writer so i appreciate any kind of feedback you have for me! if i decide to continue this work it will revolve around how Zeref plans to fix the mistakes, as well as some fluff and cute brother-ly moments.


End file.
